Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I am now 13 weeks pregnant, and that means the start of the second trimester. I think this was my fastest first trimester yet, most likely because having two small kids means not spending as much time thinking about the pregnancy.

I have started exercising again these past two weeks, and that's made me feel good. It's a very modest amount -- two miles on the treadmill, a combination of running and walking. I like to do it at 7:30 when Jeopardy! comes on, so I can try to get smarter at the same time. But after taking almost two months off of running, I thought it best to ease back into it. As long as I'm feeling up to it, I'll start running outside when the weather warms up.

Three weeks ago, I also started prenatal yoga, which is a nice little getaway for me in the middle of the week. I hired a new babysitter to allow me to go when Tim can't be there. He was gone all last week in Virginia, and in the coming weeks, he'll be gone more and more frequently. That first class three weeks ago was my first experience with yoga. I don't think the mommy & baby yoga class I took once and only once years ago really counted -- much more informal. When the instructor bowed and said, "Namaste," I sat there like a bump on a log, like, why are you bowing to me, this is weird..? I think I have improved. Some of the poses are very challenging, and require a lot of concentration. I haven't lost my balance and fallen yet, and that's good. I'm not as much of a klutz as I thought.

I'm trying to be a healthier eater. I've given up coffee completely, as I probably already mentioned. I also gave up my one-a-day caffeine-free Diet Coke, only because I lost my taste for it. Now I drink mostly water, but also tea and milk. My only vice is ice cream, and while I was having it every other night for a few weeks, I've recently resolved to make it a once-weekly indulgence. Baked Ruffles would be another vice, but I only have them with lunch a few times a week. As my midwife had pointed out, my diet had one glaring omission: leafy green vegetables. I didn't know what to do about that, since I just don't like them. Then I remembered baby spinach. I bought a bag and try to eat one salad a day. It tastes good, actually -- better than lettuce. I eat lots of almonds, raisins and fresh fruit between meals.

I've got a little bit of a belly bulge, but my jeans still fit. Most of my tops do too. I'm not quite as tired as I was during the first trimester, but I still take naps every afternoon. I am such a grump otherwise. I feel so bad for the pregnant moms who work full time outside the home and can't take naps! I don't know what I'd do. I remember when I was pregnant with Delaney, being completely exhausted every day after lunch, ready to face-plant on my desk. I would end up having just a small third cup of coffee to try to get me over the hump. Bad! But Delaney never seemed to suffer for it.

Today I had an OB visit. I almost didn't make it due to a babysitter cancelling at the last minute, but Tim was able to come home early. So glad I didn't have to miss out on this one! After the weighing in and the blood pressure (I've already gained 10 pounds -- yikes!), a nurse came in to listen to the baby's heart. First she felt my uterus, and started to look a little concerned. "Are you sure about your dates?" she asked. "Yes," I said. According to my dates, I am 13 weeks, 2 days. I'm positive about the dates. "Why?" I asked. "Am I too big, too small..?" She told me that I feel bigger. She said based on how I felt, she would guess I was 16 weeks pregnant. Either that or having twins. Briefly, she listened to the heartbeat, and it sounded good. The doctor came in and agreed that I was large for 13 weeks. Then he asked me if I had a full bladder. I told him it was not full, not empty either. Maybe halfway. I was sent to go empty it, and then go across the hall for an ultrasound.

My mind raced as I waited the 10 seconds it took for the ultrasound to begin. I was excited because I hadn't been expecting to see the baby today. But I was so anxious, thinking, what if it really is twins? Or what if I'm measuring big because something's wrong..? It's amazing the things my mind can concoct in just a few moments.

Finally, I saw the baby on the screen. Just one baby. Phew. He/she looked so cute and comfy stretching out in there. The technician took a few measurements, and was done. She gave me a few pictures, which made me happy. I have posted them on Facebook, but I haven't made them blog-ready yet, so I can't post them here. She told me the baby is measuring 14 weeks, 3 days.

Back in the exam room, the doctor checked my belly again and told me that emptying my bladder had made it go down "this much" (holding his fingers about an inch-and-a-half apart). He said I now measure between 14 and 15 weeks, which is consistent with what the ultrasound shows. This is almost like my pregnancy with Delaney all over again. My due date is now 7/23. Delaney's was 7/24. The anatomy scan ultrasound is scheduled for 2/22. Delaney's was 2/26.

I couldn't wait to show Tim and the girls the pictures of the baby. Tim asked Delaney if she wanted a little brother or sister. She said, "I want a little 'bother,'" a la Olivia. Be careful what you ask for, Delaney!

Monday, January 24, 2011

The girlies back from the dentist. Delaney is holding up her little fish and her teeny-weeny lizard she got.

I took both the girls to the dentist this morning at 8. 8 -- what was I thinking? But it turned out I was glad to get it over with first thing.

It was Delaney's second time at the dentist, and Annie's first. You may recall, I've been very worried about Annie's teeth lately, so I was anxiously awaiting the day of this appointment. I took them to a pediatric dentist, and while I filled out the paperwork in the waiting room, the girls got a kick out of the artwork on the ceiling. I thought it was very clever too -- hulls of boats, fish, belly of a turtle, even swimming duck feet. Like being underwater and looking up.

I was a little disappointed to find out I had to accompany them to the exam room. What? You're the one being paid to do the work! I'd hoped I could just sit out there and read magazines while they worked their magic. I said, "Will there be sedation involved?" The nurse asked, "For you or for them?" "Me, of course!"

Delaney had her turn first in the big orange chair with Dr. Bob. She was very unsure about laying her head back onto the pillow. She didn't want to do that at all. But with a little coaxing she did, and I held her hand. The exam and cleaning went very quickly and smoothly from there. No cavities! The nurse let her pick a few toys out of a drawer afterward, a toothbrush and Spongebob toothpaste. She was thrilled.

Then came Annie's turn. On her paperwork, I had checked "no" when asked if she would be a cooperative patient. They were not at all worried. Dr. Bob went to look at another kid's mouth, while the nurse explained to me how they would handle Annie. "What we're going to do is a lap dance." A wha...? "Oh, sorry, I meant 'lap exam', I don't know why I said that. Must be all the stupid movies I watch every weekend." Don't want to know! I laughed and said, "It's an interesting business you're running here."

The lap exam would consist of Annie sitting on my lap facing me, and her head on Dr. Bob's lap, while I held her hands. As I knew she would, she cried and squirmed the whole way through it. Her wide open mouth made it easy for him to see all her teeth. I pointed out what I thought were the problem teeth. He said, "They're fine, perfectly healthy." "You mean they're not decaying, and the enamel is not coming off?" He explained that the discoloration was staining caused by harmless bacteria living in the mouth, and was normally associated with newly erupted teeth. As I sat and watched, he polished them up, pearly-white, good as new. He told me if I wanted to, I could put a little bit of baking soda on a toothbrush and that would take it off too.

So that pediatric nurse had no idea what she was talking about, and had us all worried over nothing. If I see her again at Annie's 2-year checkup, I will be sure to tell her. Please don't give any dental advice. Stick to what you know!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

I can't remember why I started out writing out numbers as words in the titles of my update posts, but once I'd started I didn't feel I could stop. For the sake of consistency, I had to title a post, "Annalise at seventeen months." Well, no more. I'm done. I'll have to be inconsistent. Writing out numbers is driving me crazy.

One thing that stands out about Annie this months is that she's grown longer and leaner. She's just as tall as Delaney was last year, but skinnier. (I know this because she's wearing the exact same jeans Delaney wore last winter, and they fit lengthwise, but are slightly loose in the waist.) It's probably been happening gradually for months, but I think her sickness of a couple weeks ago, when she didn't want to eat for days, made us start looking anxiously at her legs and belly for signs of weight loss. We noticed she was thinner, but I doubt it was the result of her being sick. She's just losing her baby fat. Her legs are still so adorable and I can't wait to see her in shorts again.

Thinner, but still squeezable

At first this was a happy month. We had Christmas, and she was healthy and active and fun, full of smiles. But then came the SICKNESS right after the New Year, that lasted a whole week, and that was no fun at all. First Tim and Delaney got it, but they recovered fairly quickly. Then Annie got it. Right about the time I thought she was getting better, she got worse. Much worse. She had a hacking cough. She was listless and drowsy, not wanting to eat or drink. All she wanted to do was sleep. Her eyes were watery, droopy and sad. She ran a fever from time to time. For about three days straight, she was only awake a total of three to four of every 24 hours. Her lips got terribly chapped, and I'll never forget the morning I went into her room and found her with snot all over her face, and blood on her teeth. I felt so bad for my poor baby! Throughout the day, I coaxed and coaxed her to try this and that, food or drink. Carmex helped a lot with the chapping, but I knew the real cause to be dehydration.

Little by little, she got better. On the morning of the bloody teeth, she started drinking more fluids. Then she had a few pieces of fruit at lunch. But the funk she was in remained, and hung over our household like a dark cloud. She had no interest in playing for a few more days. Only rarely did we see her smile. But she cuddled a lot with us. Since she's not much of a cuddler usually, we had to at least be happy about that.

We are so glad to have our happy little girl back, the one who grabs onto Tim's hands and yells, "One.. two.. free!" so he'll lift her up into the air. It's wonderful to see her dancing around to the songs in her Sesame Street book. I don't even mind her going into the cabinet and rearranging all the containers and lids. I'm just grateful she's back to her old self. It's a relief to be getting out of the house again and seeing other people. It was only one week, but it was a long one.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Oh Delaney, how we love you and how you drive us cra-a-a-zy. We love you for the sweet, fun-loving, smart little person you are. But you really, really, really need to stop all that whining. It's not necessary. We are happy to grant reasonable requests. When you ask for juice, you get it. When you ask us to help you turn on a movie, we will. If it's a snack you want, you know we want you to have adequate nourishment. Yes, I'll be glad to let you have a half a pear to yourself. Or some raisins and goldfish. But please, please, please don't ask for it in that whine like it's the end of the world, and don't repeat it a hundred times after I've already said yes. It might take a minute, but I'm working on it. We're ready to tear our hair out here! OK, glad I got that off my chest.

Here are some things that make Delaney happy:
1) Going to school. She LOVES school, and a two-week break was way too long. She kept asking about it. She finally started again the first Tuesday after the New Year, and she was thrilled. I was relieved. It makes me wonder, what am I going to do with her all summer long? Summer camp?
2) "The bouncy place." Where we live, we have no Gymboree or The Little Gym, or Kids-N-Motion. We have New Bern Gymnastics, which has a few trampolines and a foam pit. It has an open play time for ages 1 to 5 one Friday a month. We go that once a month, and she asks about it all the rest of the month. It was cancelled at the last minute on New Years Eve, and I thought I could get away with just not going and not saying anything about it. But every day she asks when we're going to "the bouncy place."
3) Her dinosaurs, of course.

4) Making up stories and songs that don't make any sense to anyone but herself, but they sound so happy.

Here are some things that Delaney doesn't like:
1) Mealtimes. Having to sit down and try to take a few bites of whatever horrible, nasty food we make her eat is no fun.
2) Quiet time. But I insist on it on every afternoon because I don't know what I'd do without it. Every now and again she sleeps. For the most part, she just quietly makes a mess of her room.

Occasionally of late she wakes up at night, around midnight, crying. Tim and I think it's funny that usually whatever's making her cry has to do with her dad. But he never goes in there, only I hear her, and when I ask what's wrong, she usually says something about him. "I don't want Daddy to go to work." "I want Daddy to sleep in my room." She really loves her daddy. She's going to miss him when he leaves this summer.

Every now and again she melts my heart with a kind and loving gesture toward her little sister. She'll offer her something from her plate that she sees Annie eying, or at bedtime she'll go in search of the perfect little stuffed animal to let Annie have in her room for the night. Those moments more than make up for the stinginess she displays at other times. Or the times she informs me that she doesn't "want Annie anymore." I can't help but be amused that after almost two years of having a little sister, she still thinks it's an option to send her back. Or that Annie continues to live under a roof with us because Delaney tolerates her. Ha! I can't wait to see what she thinks of a newborn.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

And that is just too bad because it took me a really long time to think of a title as clever as this one (haha). We are expecting another little one around the end of July. I am still a little bit in shock about this, even though we've known since a couple days before Thanksgiving. We knew we wanted a third baby, but not one with this particular due date. Tim is set to leave on the MEU in July, after all. But about two days after we'd had our discussion about waiting to try until spring, I bought a dollar store pregnancy test (you have to ask for them at the counter now -- only a little awkward) and took it just to reassure myself. The other line appeared instantly, even in the middle of the afternoon. Not even a moment's hesitation. Oops.

When I told Tim later that day, I was laughing and he couldn't tell that I was serious at first. When he realized I was serious, he was giddy. Throughout the rest of that evening and the next two days, from time to time he would just look at me and laugh, then high-five me. I would roll my eyes at him, but high-five back. Then I'd say, "I can't believe you did this to me!"

So far this pregnancy, the only symptom I notice is FATIGUE. I loved my sleep before, but now I nap just about every day during the girls' nap/quiet time, and my eyes get heavy around 9:30 every night. I think I've been able to stay up through one movie since finding out I was pregnant. I have not been suffering with nausea this time, and I'm attributing it to a daily 100 mg of B6. Or maybe my luck has changed. I never had bad morning sickness with either of the other pregnancies -- just enough nausea and food and smell aversions to make eating a real chore.

I really miss spicy tuna rolls. When we order sushi, I have to have all the things that DON'T contain raw fish. So when we get sushi, I get to watch Tim eat the spicy tuna. He told me next time he'll be sure to order two spicy tuna rolls so he can have one for me too. Isn't that nice of him? He already drinks my share of the wine. He is a very thoughtful man.

We told our families at Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we Skyped for the first time ever with my family while they were having their Christmas Eve celebration. I wanted everybody there. It was pretty funny. My family, Skype rookies that they are, all had their faces mooshed together in front of the camera. Everyone was talking at once, no one could get a word in edgewise. (I think that's how our first Skype sessions were with Tim's family too.) Twice I said loudly, "There's something we want to tell you." Everyone just kept talking. I looked over at Tim a couple times, like, now what? Then he got a brilliant idea. He held a piece of paper up to the camera that said, "Guess what?" Then he flipped it over to where he had written, "We're pregnant."

On Christmas Day, after Carolyn and Karen's arrival, we Skyped with the rest of the family in Massachusetts, and told them. Karen said, "I knew you were pregnant! I could see it as soon as you walked up to me in the airport." Just shy of 9 weeks at the time, I already had a little belly. As my sister-in-law Sam pointed out, that's what happens when you're having the third baby!

I've been told I can expect many visits this summer after the baby arrives, and for that I am very grateful. Everyone we've told is happy for us, and we know they think we're a little crazy too.

Yesterday I had my first prenatal appointment with my midwife. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for a few seconds, before he/she moved away. I was 10 weeks 2 days yesterday, and the baby is still very tiny, so I was glad to be able to hear if for only a few seconds. We also heard the baby move. So it finally seems real. I've gained four pounds. Tonight I start prenatal yoga. Yay!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

We had a lovely, peaceful and quiet Christmas right here in our house in North Carolina. That's the first time we've ever not traveled to spend Christmas with one family or the other. We'd made the decision this past summer that we were done traveling for awhile! It was nice getting a real tree, and waking up in our own house Christmas morning, listening to Christmas music and watching the girls open their gifts.

On Christmas evening, Tim's mom and sister Karen flew into New Bern, and we all had the most delicious ham dinner ever, and then delicious tiramisu layer cake afterward (thank you, Tim!). I don't normally eat an entire piece of any dessert, but I made an exception for that one. After that, there were even more presents to open. They stayed until the morning of the 30th. The little girls were in heaven, having them to play with all those days. And for me it meant, besides nice company, a few days of not hearing, "Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama!"

Not too many pictures turned out, but here are a few:

Delaney frosting cookies with Tim on Christmas Eve

Dressed up for Mass on Christmas Eve. I couldn't get Delaney to stop goofing around and take a nice picture.

Back home, waiting to Skype with Grandy, Papaw, and all the Schlossers

On Christmas morning, Delaney goes for the biggest gifts first. One is a play kitchen for them to share.

The other is a cozy coupe! The two of them fought viciously over it for the first few minutes of gift unwrapping.

I couldn't wait for Delaney to open those dinosaurs!

Delaney and Auntie Karen playing with Play-Doh. They did all kinds of crafty fun stuff at this table.

Annie snuggles up with Grandma for a story.

And then it was over, just like that. Grandma and Auntie Karen went home, and another round of crud came through our house. A year is gone and another one has begun and it promises to be a crazy (but mostly good) one. Happy New Year, everybody!

About Me

Hi! I'm Rachael: Catholic, Marine wife, coffeeholic, clutterphobe, free range parent, and on again/off again runner. I am hopelessly awkward but I mean well. This blog is my journal, occasionally cheap therapy, and most of all a fun way update faraway family and friends. Welcome!